berth

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English

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WOTD – 9 July 2024

Pronunciation

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Sailboats in their berths (noun sense 1.1) at the Raffles Marina, Singapore.
Berths (noun sense 1.3) on board the Bayandor, a corvette of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy.
A berth (noun sense 2.2) on a business jet plane managed by Qatar Executive.

Etymology 1

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The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”);[1] further etymology uncertain, probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”)[2][3] + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns),[4] Beren is derived from Old English beran (“to carry, hold, bear”), from Proto-West Germanic *beran (“to carry, bear”), from Proto-Germanic *beraną (“to carry, bear”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti (“to be carrying”), from *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). If so, the English word is analysable as bear +‎ -th (suffix forming nouns from verbs), and is a doublet of birth.

The verb is derived from the noun.[5]

Noun

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berth (plural berths)

  1. (nautical) Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore.
    2. (by extension) A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor.
      • a. 1755 (date written), Henry Fielding, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1755, →OCLC, page 191:
        Tho' vve vvere again got near our harbour by three in the afternoon, yet it ſeemed to require a full hour or more, before vve could come to our former place of anchoring, or birth, as the captain called it.
      • 1816 February 19, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 151:
        "[…] She lays close to the Endymion, between her and the Cleopatra, just to the eastward of the sheer hulk." / "Ha!" cried William, "that's just where I should have put her myself. It's the best birth at Spithead. […]"
      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Decanter”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 493–494:
        The voyage was a skilful and lucky one; and returning to her berth with her hold full of the precious sperm, the Amelia's example was soon followed by other ships, English and American, and thus the vast Sperm Whale grounds of the Pacific were thrown open
    3. (by extension) A room in a vessel in which the officers or company mess (“eat together”) and reside; also, a room or other place in a vessel for storage.
      • 1748, [Tobias Smollett], “I am Reduced to Great Misery—Assaulted on Tower-hill by a Press-gang, who Put Me on Board a Tender—My Usage there—My Arrival on Board of the Thunder Man of War, […]”, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume II, London: […] [William Strahan] for J. Osborn […], →OCLC, page 226:
        And vvhen he had ſhevvn me their birth (as he called it) I vvas filled vvith aſtoniſhment and horror.—VVe deſcended by divers ladders to a ſpace as dark as a dungeon, vvhich I underſtood vvas immerſed ſeveral feet under vvater, being immediately above the hold: I had no ſooner approached this diſmal gulph, than my noſe vvas ſaluted vvith an intolerable ſtench of putrified cheeſe, and rancid butter, […]
      • 1836, [Frederick Marryat], “Showing how Jack transgresses against his own philosophy”, in Mr. Midshipman Easy […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, pages 141–142:
        But not only was this the first day that Jack may be said to have appeared in the service, but it was the first day in which he had entered the midshipman's berth, and was made acquainted with his messmates.
    5. (by extension) A place on a vessel to sleep, especially a bed on the side of a cabin.
      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Sermon”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 48:
        All dressed and dusty as he is, Jonah throws himself into his berth, and finds the little state-room ceiling almost resting on his forehead. […] The lamp alarms and frightens Jonah; as lying in his berth his tormented eyes roll round the place, and this thus far successful fugitive finds no refuge for his restless glance.
      • 1885 December, [Alice Kipling], “The Haunted Cabin”, in Quartette, the Christmas Annual of the Civil & Military Gazette, Lahore, British India: The “Civil and Military Gazette” Press, →OCLC, page 41:
        By what I then thought to be great good luck I had succeeded in getting a three-berth cabin for myself and my little boy alone—Nos. 45, 46, 47—on the starboard side of the ship.
    6. (by extension) A job or position on a vessel.
  2. (by extension)
    1. An assigned place for a person in (chiefly historical) a horse-drawn coach or other means of transportation, or (military) in a barracks.
    3. A bunk or other bed for sleeping on in a caravan, a train, etc.
      • 1909, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “A Torn Telegram”, in The Man in Lower Ten, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 27:
        Some passengers boarded the train there and I heard a woman's low tones, a southern voice, rich and full. Then quiet again. Every nerve was tense: time passed, perhaps ten minutes, possibly half an hour. Then, without the slightest warning, as the train rounded a curve, a heavy body was thrown into my berth.
      • 1944 November–December, “‘Duplex Roomette’ Sleeping Cars”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 324:
        It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day.
    4. (road transport) A place for a vehicle on land to park.
  3. (figurative)
    2. An appointment, job, or position, especially one regarded as comfortable or good.
    3. Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space for manoeuvring or safety.
    4. (chiefly nautical, slang) A proper place for a thing.
      • 1742, [Daniel Defoe], “Letter III. Containing a Description of the County of Kent, &c.”, in A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, pages 140–141:
        [T]he Maſter-builders appoint the VVorking or Converting, as they call it, of every Piece of Timber, and give to the other Head-vvorkmen or Foremen, their Moulds for the ſquaring and cutting out of every Piece, and placing it in its proper Byrth (ſo they call it) in the Ship that is in Building; […]
    5. (sports)
      1. A position or seed in a tournament bracket.
      2. A position on a field of play.
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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berth (third-person singular simple present berths, present participle berthing, simple past and past participle berthed)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (nautical) To bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth (noun sense 1.1); also, to provide a berth for (a vessel).
      Antonym: unberth
      Coordinate terms: dock, moor
      • 1961 August, “New Traffic Flows in South Wales”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 494:
        Further west, in Pembrokeshire, the Esso Petroleum Co. refinery at Milford Haven, opened last November, is designed to berth the world's largest tankers and to process, initially, 4,500,000 tons of crude oil a year.
      1. (specifically, astronautics) To use a device to bring (a spacecraft) into its berth or dock.
    2. (by extension, chiefly passive voice) To assign (someone) a berth (noun sense 1.3 or sense 2.2) or place to sleep on a vessel, a train, etc.
    3. (figurative) To provide (someone) with a berth (noun sense 3.1) or appointment, job, or position.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. (reflexive, nautical) Of a vessel: to move into a berth.
    2. (by extension) Of a person: to occupy a berth.

Derived terms

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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Possibly borrowed from Icelandic byrði (“side of a ship, board”).[6]

Verb

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berth (third-person singular simple present berths, present participle berthing, simple past and past participle berthed)

  1. (archaic or historical) Chiefly in shipbuilding: to construct (a ship or part of it) using wooden boards or planks; to board, to plank.
Derived terms
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Translations
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to construct (a ship or part of it) using wooden boards or planks — see board,‎ plank

References

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  1. ^ “birth, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “bēren, v.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ Compare “berth, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “berth, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “-th(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ Compare “berth, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “berth, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. ^ “berth, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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Welsh

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle Welsh berth, from Proto-Brythonic *berθ, from Proto-Celtic *berxtos.

Adjective

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berth (feminine singular berth, plural berthion, equative berthed, comparative berthach, superlative berthaf)

  1. (obsolete) fair, fine, beautiful
Derived terms
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Mutation

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Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
berth ferth merth unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Etymology 2

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Noun

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berth

  1. Soft mutation of perth (“hedge”).

Mutation

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Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
perth berth mherth pherth
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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